Men try to win 1st Big Ten Championship in 6 years

Only three days after IU’s women’s swimming and diving team finished second at the Big Ten Championships, the men’s team is on the road back to Iowa City, Iowa.

The No. 11 men’s team is preparing for the start of the Big Ten Championships on Wednesday in its quest to earn its 25th conference title and first since 2006.

“The past two weeks, as we’ve tapered down, the guys have swam faster than we ever have before,” sophomore swimmer Cody Miller said. “The team is feeling really confident going into the meet. We know we are going to do some great things.”

The Hoosiers are coming off last year’s Big Ten performance, during which they earned a second-place finish, only 74 points behind the eventual champion, Michigan. This season they faced the Wolverines twice and have lost on both occasions.

“Yeah, we lost to them in season, but that doesn’t matter,” Miller said. “No one cares what happens in a dual meet at the end of the year. The only thing that matters is the final meet, where it all counts.”

During this past year’s Big Ten Championships, IU won only three events, two of which were from Miller in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke races. Though junior Eric Ress, the other winner, will not compete due to his preparation for the French Olympic Trials, the athletes said they are optimistic they will get more wins.

“It’s going to take all of us performing better than we ever have before, which we are absolutely prepared to do, especially our younger guys,” Miller said. “We have a large group of young guys and freshmen who are still under the radar, but they are all ready to prove themselves at this meet.”

One of the people IU hopes can provide them with some wins is junior diver Zac Nees, who has won seven events this season, compared to one during his first two seasons.

“My diving was really in a slump during this championship meet last season, and that taught me that everyone has their day to shine,” he said. “I learned that anyone can step up in finals, and to never take anything for granted.”

IU also has returning junior divers Mick Dell’Orco and Casey Johnson and sophomores Darian Schmidt and Conor Murphy.

“The divers are all really confident that we can play a huge role in the outcome of this meet,” Nees said. “Michigan does not really have any of the top divers in the Big Ten, so we have to get every point we can in order to win.”

The Hoosiers should also get a boost from freshman Steve Schmuhl and junior Sam Trahin. Schmuhl, who is 6-feet-8-inches tall, currently owns the IU top times this season in the 200-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly, and he is a member of the top time teams of the 400-yard freestyle relay, 800-yard freestyle relay, 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard medley relay. In addition, Trahin owns the two top times in the 400-yard Individual Medley this season and has top-five times in the 200-yard IM and 200-yard breaststroke.

Schmuhl said he is excited for his fist opportunity at the Big Ten Championships.

“I hope to have a great impact at my first Big Tens,” Schmuhl said. “I’m going with some pretty good times, so I’m hoping to really help the team out in the 200 backstroke because Ress, last year’s Big Ten champ, is redshirting this season.”

The key for IU, Miller said, is to do well in preliminaries so that it has the opportunity to earn points in finals. If that happens, he said, the team has a good shot to win.

“(Winning) would mean everything to our team,” Nees said. “That is our goal, and achieving it would make every struggle and hardship we went through this season worth it. We have to have an incredible meet in order to win, but it is definitely in the realm of possibility.”